Using The Wet Fly Swing For Trout

Using The Wet Fly Swing For Trout by Jason Akl
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I am sure almost all fly fishermen at one time or another have looked into their own or another angler’s respective fly boxes and seen soft hackle fly patterns and wondered if these simple flies could really be as productive as everyone always talks about. Wet flies are conventional fly patterns which imitate drowned dry flies stuck in the waters strong current.

At first glace, wet fly patterns really do not look a whole lot different than dry fly patterns. With closer observation you can notice that wet flies are tied fairly sparse, and incorporate a soft hackle or fur collar tied in swept position. These light dressing and special hackle allow the wet flies to easily cut through the waters surface and drift along within the current’s tow. The real key to the wet flies great reputation is the fly’s ability to catch fish. This ability to consistently dupe fish is not entirely due to the fly pattern but rather the way in which these flies are fished. The wet fly swing is literally everything it sounds like: presenting a wet fly in a swinging fashion to feeding fish. This technique of presenting flies is easy for beginners to learn and allows an angler to expand their repertoire of flies fished. Wet fly patterns on the market today are a world different then the flies fished a few generation ago. Wet fly patterns as a group now consist of minnows, leeches and dragonflies along with the traditional imitations of sunken dry flies allowing anglers to enjoy wet fly fishing with a large variety of patterns. However, as easy as this technique is to learn, truly understanding the wet fly swing comes from knowledge of where the fish lie, their feeding habits and the ability of the fly angler to control the fly as it is swinging.

To be productive at the wet fly swing technique anglers need to know what type of tackle requirements are needed to best get the job done. Ideally a 9 ft 4 / 5 weight rod rigged with a floating fly line should be used with this technique on most waters, whereas shorter rods can be substituted for fishing small overgrown streams. Tippet size and leader lengths should be tailored to the size of the river and type of fish you are planning on catching. Use as small of a leader and tippet as possible without compromising you chances of losing fish to break offs. It is of no use to you to be able to consistently fool fish, but not be able to bring them in when the leader/tippet you are using is too light to fight the fish. For starters leaders 9 ft in lengths will handle most waters while scaling down to a 7 1/2 ft leader will cover the smaller streams. Tippets of 2X, 3X and 4X are suggested for starters to help resist the shock of a fish hitting on a taught line.

The best bet to learning this technique is to get out for a day and practice on the water. Start off with a general up-and-across type of fly cast to present flies upstream of their target. A key to this upstream presentation is placing the fly in the fish’s field of view without ever letting the fish catch a glimpse of the line or the angler. A typical cast should be in the range of 15 to 25 feet for beginner and intermediate anglers while longer casts can be made but are warned against seeing as detecting strikes and hooking fish gets increasingly tough with the longer line length. Once the line reaches the waters surface, begin mending the line so that the fly will achieve a natural looking drift under the waters surface. A quick strip of the line as the fly initially lands on the water surface will cut the surface tension allowing the fly to sink below the surface. Getting the fly beneath the waters surface quickly and achieving a drag free drift is very important to performing the wet swing technique. This starting sequence allows the fly to get down to eye level with the fish while at the same time simulating an aquatic insect that has become drowned or dislodged and swept downstream. Trout will greedily rise to this dead drifting wet fly presentation the same as they do to dry flies, gluttonously feeding on whatever floats downstream.